Five Bubble Tea Spots: The Good, the Bad, and the Chunky
Jooy’s fresh ingredients, tasty flavors, and quality food options earned the chain the top spot on our list. Photo: David Yu and Kai Le Liang
By DAVID YU and KAI LE LIANG
Boba or bubble tea, the popular drink originating in Taiwan, has become increasingly popular worldwide, with a variety of chains opening their doors to thirsty customers. These days shops are popping up everywhere in NYC to meet the demand. But with the abundance of different teas, flavors, and toppings to choose from, where should you go the next time you’re craving some boba?
Yifang Taiwan Fruit Tea (★★★★☆)
8413 20th Ave, Brooklyn
Yifang, known for the fresh fruits used in most of their drinks, has multiple locations around the world and eight within the NYC area. They have an interesting selection of organic toppings such as grass jelly, organic pudding, and aiyu jelly. We got the mango sago pomelo and the brown sugar pearl latte. Although we got our drinks at 50% sugar, they were still sweet. The mango sago pomelo was quite good. As you take a sip, you can taste the bits of mango and pomelo in your mouth along with the chewy sago. It was like holding a dessert in your hand. They were very generous by giving a lot of sago and pearls.
Chun Yang (★★★☆☆)
6016 8th Ave, Brooklyn
With six locations across the four boroughs, Chun Yang is best known for its freshly brewed tea. Most drinks range from $6.50 to $7.50 per cup, plus 50 cents for toppings. This is on the pricey side, but with a noticeably strong tea flavor in their drinks, they’re certainly not like other places. You have the option to get most drinks either hot or cold. The black tea had a good strong bold taste and an herby flavor while the fruit tea options added a bit of sweetness and sourness. However, the grass jelly and pudding toppings both came in big chunks, making it difficult to enjoy with the rest of the drink. Most of our toppings were stuck to the bottom after we finished our drinks.
The Alley (★★★★☆)
38-02 Prince St, Queens
The Alley is a popular Taiwanese chain known for its brown sugar boba. Currently, they only have one location open in Flushing, but if you are in the area, give this place a try. The ube creme brulee brown sugar milk, which comes with boba, is a must-try. If you are an ube or taro enthusiast, this is the drink for you. The ube is not too strong and adds a very subtle taste to your milk tea. The drink comes in two sizes, regular and large, with a fixed sugar level that isn’t too sweet. The boba is chewy and coated in brown sugar, which is consistent with most of their other drinks. Remember to shake before you drink as you want the layers to blend to create that perfectly delish mix.
Jooy Tea Shoppe (★★★★★)
2049 86th St, Brooklyn
Jooy has five locations, three in Brooklyn (one on 86th St and two on 8th Ave) and two in Manhattan (Union Square and Hell’s Kitchen). If you are looking for a boba shop with high-quality drinks that match their price, this is the place for you. We rate Jooy as number one on our list because of its variety of drink options and its fresh ingredients. They also offer a variety of toppings like lychee jelly, tea jelly, pudding, and more. If you are looking to get some food or grab a quick bite, you can also try some of their appetizers and burgers. A combo meal comes with a drink for $19. We recommend their popcorn chicken, but they also have takoyaki (grilled octopus with a crisp outer shell) and simple wings and fries. In addition, their shops are always clean and spacious and come with Wi-Fi, making for a great environment to do work.
We got a torched creme brulee milk tea with crystal boba and pudding and an oolong milk tea with boba. The tea itself had a smooth and creamy taste that complimented the crystal boba and pudding. It was a bit expensive ($9.35), but was still a worthwhile, unique experience.
TBaar (★☆☆☆☆):
8520 20th Ave, Brooklyn
With so many good options, some places are just not up to par with the rest. One spot to avoid is TBaar. With nine locations across NYC dating back to 2006, it is one of the pioneering bubble tea chains. They are known for not just their boba but also their smoothies and juices. Unfortunately, even with all this experience, it doesn't seem like they have mastered their craft. The regular milk tea was mediocre at best. It didn’t have a strong flavor to begin with but was also very diluted with ice. The boba pearls were soft and mushy on the outside but a bit hard on the inside. They did not taste like quality tapioca or like any effort was put into making them. Even their smoothies made with fresh fruit were not that great, tasting a bit watered down, with chunks of fruit still floating in them.